Dana and Rufus might look like friends from the outside, but Dana’s feelings
for him are quite different from what we think of them. To begin with Dana sees
Rufus as a child needing or relying upon her protection. For instance, when Dana
saved him from drowning in the river. Secondly, she views him as a man of his
time. In another words Rufus’s personality is the way that any other man would
have been in that period of time towards his slaves. Lastly, he is a ruthless
and vicious slaveholder, which Tom Weylin’s fault. Just as Tom’s behaviour
on the slaves and on his son. Finally, I will explain in more details how
Dana’s feelings for Rufus are in the following paragraphs. As a child Rufus
started depending on Dana. In another words, Rufus’s survival was left in the
hands of Dana. Just as when Dana went back to the past the first time to save
Rufus from drowning in the river. "I reacted to the child in trouble".
Also, Rufus depended on her to be his companion. Even more, when Alice killed
herself and Dana came back to the past the last time and saw what happened Rufus
told her "don’t leave, Dana". As Rufus grew older he never really
learned to take good care of himself. Rufus is a man of his time. To begin with
he treats his slaves the way any man would do in his period of time. Like the
time when his father died and then he started to buy and sell slaves like any
other slaveholder would do. Like Alice said "He’s all grown up now and
part of the system". Further more Rufus had started to take whatever he
wanted by force if he couldn’t get it peacefully. For instance, the time when
Alice said he didn’t want to go with him and she decided to marry Issac. Just
as then he thought he should get her by forcing her to come with him and when
she didn’t he tried to rape her. "She’ll get what’s coming to her.
She’ll get it whether I give it to her or not," he said smiling. To
conclude, Rufus still needs to learn a lot about manhood of his time. As, Rufus
grows older he becomes more offensive , brutal, and vicious. To begin with Tom
Weylin’s hatred for his as a little child had turned him this way . For
example, when Tom hit Rufus for stealing a dollar from him and Rufus tried to
get back at him by burning the draperies. Rufus "He said I took money from
his desk, and I said I didn’t. He said I was calling him a liar, and he hit
me. Several times". Also, Rufus started to deal with his anger by punishing
other people like his slaves. Like the time when Rufus blamed Dana for his
fathers death and sent her to fields, and also got her whipped. "I guess I
just had to make somebody pay. And it seemed that… well, people don’t die
when you’re taking care of them" .Finally, Rufus had really shown his
vicious side to Dana. For these reasons, you understand how Dana feels about
Rufus. No matter how many times Dana saved his life, he paid her back by
punishing her in one of his brutal and vicious ways. If Dana didn’t have to
save her future by waiting until Hagar was born she would have killed Rufus a
long time ago. Put yourself in the place of Dana and think about what you would
have done.